Friday, January 22, 2016

Uber now a licensed Toronto taxi brokerage

TORONTO - Uber Canada announced Friday it has been granted a brokerage license.

The ride-sharing company said in a brief statement Friday that it has
been working with licensing and standards at the city of Toronto
regarding “recent bylaw changes” and how to work in a regulated
environments.

“To that end, after taking steps to finalize our existing
application, we have now received our brokerage license,” said Uber
spokesman Susie Heath in an email.

She called it “another step” in Uber's participating in a regulatory solution that can include ride-sharing services.

“We will continue to work with the City of Toronto towards new
regulations for ridesharing, which are expected in the coming months,”
she said.

A spokesman for municipal licensing confirmed Uber now is a licensed Toronto taxi brokerage.

"This
allows them to dispatch only licensed taxicabs through their UberTaxi
app. UberX continues to be outside of the bylaw and the City of Toronto
will continue to enforce the bylaws in respect to the operations of the
UberX service," the spokesman stated."City
staff are currently researching and writing ground transportation
review report, which will contain recommendations and will be presented
to Licensing & Standards Committee in early 2016."

Beck Taxi's Kristine Hubbard was quick to jump on the news that Uber had been granted a taxi brokerage license.

"Finally admitting we offer the same dispatching services. They are a brokerage. Same job, same rules," Hubbard tweeted Friday.